Leather-marking machine.



G. H. LANG.

LEATHER MARKING MACHINE.

APPLIOATION FILED JUNI: 2s, 1909.

4 SHEETS-SHEET 1.

Patented June 17, 1913.

G. H. LANG.

LEATHER MARKING MACHINE.

APPLICATION FILED JUNE 28, 1909.

1,065,257. Patented June 17, 1913.

4 SHEETS-SHEET 2.

G. H. LANG.

LEATHER MARKING MACHINE.

APPLICATION FILED JUNI'. 2B, 1909.

Patented June 17, 1913.

4 SEEBTS*SHEET 3.

Il@ eww. Qeogelezzg,

A Wsw.

G. H. LANG.

LEATHER MARKING MACHINE..-

APPLIGATION FILED JUNE 28 Patented June 17, 1913.

4 SHEETS-SHEET 4.

'UNITED sTATEs PATENT oFEroE.

GEORGE 1I. LANG, 0F BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS.

LEATHER-MARKING MACHINE.

Specification of Letters Patent.

tion, like letters on the drawing representingl like parts.

This invention relates to a machine for marking leather and particularly to a machine for marking on the soles of shoes characters indicating the size, style, case number, etc. I wish it understood, however, that my invention may be applied to other uses than marking characters on the soles of shoes as a machine embodying the invention may be useful in marking characters on leather or other material.

The objects of the invention are to provide a means for heating the type to provide a novel construction whereby the simv and half sizes can be readily marked, and to provide a novel support for the solesso that the size and case number or other distinguishing mark can be accurately applied at two different portions of the leather' at. two successive operations.

Still other objects of my invention are to improve generally this type ot machine, all as will be more fully hereinafter described and then pointed out in the appended claims.

ln the drawings, wherein have illus-" trated one embodiment of my invention, Figure 1 is a side View of a machine embodying my invention with a portion broken out to better show the construct-ion; Fig. 2 is a front View of the printing head; Fig. 3 is an enlarged section through the platen or hed on the line .fr-a, Fig. 1; Fig. 4 is a section through the printing head on the line 1/-y/, Fig. 7; Fig. 5 is a detail of the means for advancing the ty e-disk bearing the unit digit-s; Fig. (t is a p an view of the bed or platen; Fig. 7 is a section on substantially the line own, Fig. 4; Fig. 8 is a view ot' a shoe sole after the size and case number have been imprinted thereon.

The machine herein illustrated is in many ways similar in construction to the printing machines shown in my two patents No. 861,790, dated September 7, 1907, and No. 877.1353, dated January 28, 1908.

The printing head is designated generally by il and it carries the type-disks 4, 4, 4b, 4,

etc. It is mounted onan arm 5 which is pivoted at 7 to the frame 6 `andwhich is given a vibrating motion by means of a crank disk 8 which .is connected to the end of the arm by a link 9. The crank disk is driven by means of a gear 10 which in turn meshes with and is drivenby a pinion 11 on v Patented June 1 7, 1913.

Application filed J' une 28, 1999. Serial No. 504,668.

a driving shaft 12, and a suitable clutch (not shown) which is operated by a roclshaft 18 is employed to clutch the pinion to or disengage it from the driving shaft, 12. The rotation of the crank disk 8 will vibrate t-he arm 5 and cause the printing head with the type-disks 4 to rise and alhas will be obvious. The type-disks are alined during the downward movement of the printing head by an aliner 14 which enters the V- shaped notches 15 formed between the ty e 16 on the disks. The parts thus far escribed are or may be all as shown in my aforesaid patents and do not form any part of the present invention.

The type disks may be adjusted or set b y any suitable mechanism. in the embodiment herein shown 'a setting mechanism is employed that is somewhat similar to that shown in my above-mentioned patents,

that is, each type-disk has rigid there-v with a pinion 17 which meshes with teeth 18 on a setting disk 21 that is loosely mounted on a rod 19 sustained by the acters 22 corresponding to the characters on the type-disk, and these characters 22 are so arranged that the character which occupies a position adjacent the gage 28 indicates the claracter on` the t-ype-disk which is in position for being impressed on the work.l iltlaeh set-ting disk 21 is provided with notches 24 and a spring-pressed pivoted finger 25 is associated with each disk to act. as a friction lock for holding the disk in its adjusted position. Each finger 25 is preferablyprovided with a roll 26 at its end which drops into the Various notches 24 as the disks 21 are turned, and the spring 27 which acts on each finger is strong enough so that when the roll occupies any notch, as shown in Fig. 4, the disk 21 will he frictionally held from movement. The disk can be Each setting disk 21 has formed on the exposed part thereof char' readily adjusted, however, by applying a little force to the hande 20. This manner of adjusting the type-disks is very similar to that shown in my aforesaid patents. As stated above one of the objects of the invention is to provide novel means for heating thetype, so that the hot type may be used for burninoq the impression in leather if it is desired to make an impression Without the use of ink. It is possible,hoW ever, to use this feature of my invention in connection with machines that are provided with means for v.printing an impression with ink, and such heating of the type would then be of advantage in case the ink was of such a character that a more lasting impression could be made with heated type than if the type were cold.

In order to heat the type disks 4 I have in this embodiment of my invention mounted them loosely upon a burner tube 30 and each type-disk is provided kwith a plurality of radial burner openings or passages 31 which terminate at the periphery of the disk at points between the` various type 1G. The burner tube 30 is rovided with apertures 32 which are adapte to communicate with the burner openings 31 of the disks which terminate at the lower side of the disk. I have herein shown the burner tube 30 as having a set of three apertures 32 for. each of the type-disks, said apertures being situated on the under side of the tube so that each set of apertures registers with the three port-s or burner openings 31 of the corresponding type-disk that are situated on the underside of said disk, The burner tube 80 is arranged to be connected to a source of gas supply so that gas will be delivered to said tube 30 and from the tube to the burner openings 31, and thus a heating flame may' be maintained which is sulicient to keep the type hot. I have herein shown the burner tube 30 as connected at one end to a vmixing pipe 34k provided with apertures 35 for the admission of air, and said pipe 31 being connected b a flexible pipe 3G to a source of gas suppiy. The burner tube 30 is nonrotary, but in every position of the rotary type disks someof theburner openings 31 therein will register .with the ports 32 in the burner tube, and thus no matter what position the type-disks may occupy, there will always be a suliicient llame maintained leo to keep the type hot enough to burn an impression in the leather or other work.

While it is possible to use the mechanism thus far described for impressing or burning characters on any work, yet the printing head I have herein shown is especially designed for printing the size and case num 'ber on the soles of shoes. In the present embodiment of my invention I arrange the tylpe-disks in two groups, one of which is a apted to im rint the size of the shoe on 1 the sole, and t e other of which is adapted .and Width size) are grouped atc, While the type-disks for printing the case number are grouped at d. This arrangement, however, is not essential to 1n invention, as it is only one of a number o possible arrangements. The type-disks for printing the size of the shoe are formed with both figures and letters, and I also employ an additional typedisk or half-size marker adapted to print a mark indicating the half size. As herein shown, I have illustrated two ,type-disks 4 having the digits formed thereon, other type-disks 4b having the letters of the alphabet thereon, and another type-disk atc. having the characters to designate the half size thereon and which will be referred to as the half-size marker. There are several ways in which shoe manufacturers designate the half size. The most common ways are by using either one of the following characters: 1/2, 5, According to the first method a 6 shoe and a Gel/2 shoe would be designated by the character G and G-1/2 according to the second method by 60 and 65 and according to the third method by 6 and 6-. In order to use any one of these three methods for indicatingthe half size, I have placed on the halfsizemarker 4c type-to imprint the following characters: 1/2, 0 5 and and the same characters are shown on the disk 21 corresponding to the half-size mai-ker 4, as will be observed from Fig. 2. I will preferably arrange a blank t-ype or blank space on lthe half-size marker adjacent to the 1/2 character, and another blank space adjacent to the character.

For changing the half-size marker 4 so as toindicate either the size or the half size I have shown an actuator 50 which sets between the disk 21 bearing the half size characters and the adjacent disk carrying the .unit digits, and is forked at its lower end vmay-be manipulated, and it carries a projection 52 that is adapted to set into a deep notch 53 formed in the periphery of that disk 21 which corresponds to the half-size marker 4, This actuator 50 is provided With a slot 54 through which extends a rod 55 carried by the printing head, said rod acting as a means to limit the oscillating movenient of the actuator. The movementof the actuator permitted by the rod 55 and slot 54 is just sullicient to turn the disk 4 so as to bring the half size character into and out of o erative position. The disk 21 bearing the iialf size marks is provided with three deep notches 53 vinto any one of which the nger 52 maybe inserted according to the particular type of half size character which etv it is desired tol use. The slot 54 is provided with the enlarged portion 56 which permits the actuator to be lifted suiiiciently towithdraw the finger 52 from the deep notch 53, and when in this position the disk 21 can be adjusted so as to bring either one of the other twodeep notches 53 into position t0 receive the nger 52. With this construction the setting of the type'to print the ,size or the half size involves'merely a movement of the handle 51 in one direction or the other.

Shoes are usually manufactured by cases and each case contains a plurality of pairs of shoes of different sizes. Very frequently the sizes run consecutively, so that one case, for instance, might have sizes 4, 4-1/2; 5,

5-1/2; 6, 6-1/2; 7, 7- 1/2, etc., and the operation of marking the sizes on the soles of the` shoes in any case involves resetting the type of the marking mach-ine to mark these successive sizes. In order to facilitate this operation I-have provided a novel construction whereby the adjustment of the half-size marker 4c fro-m the position for marking the half size to that forvmarking the size will advance by one step the typedisk 4a havingv the unit digits thereon, so that by merely reciprocating the handle 51, the type-disks will not only be set for the sizes and half sizes, but the type-disk bearing the unit digits will be advanced step. by step to indicate the gradually increasing sizes. I accomplish this by providing the actuator 50 with a pawl 60 whlch is adapted to engage the disk 21 corresponding to the unit digits type-disk. This pawl 60 1s so constructed that during the movement of the handle 51 to the left Fi 4 it will slide over the surface of the dis 211 but when the handle moves to the right, the nose of the pawl will engage one of the notches 24 in said disk, thereby advancing it one step. It will thus be seen that it is possible to set the disks for different sizes and half sizes merely by operating the handle 51.

The bed or platen on which the shoe soles rest while they are being imprinted is shown at 62. It is yieldingly mounted and has such a position that the type come agalnst the work before the printing head has completed its downward movement, so that during the latter part of the downward movement of the type head the bed moves downwardly therewith. In this way a sufficiently long contact is provided between the type and the work to permit the heated type to properly burn the impression 1n the work. I have herein shown the platen 62 as provided witha stem 63 which extends through a sleeve 64 carried by the base 65. A spring 66 surrounding the sleevel normally holds thek platen in its elevated position' but permits it to yield when the type is brought against the work. The npward movement of the platenv is limited by the nut 67 which is screw-threaded to the lower end ofthe stem 63.

rEhe machine herein shown is designed to imprint the' size characters and the case number on the sole at two dii'erentl operations, and in order. that these two numbers shall be properly placed with reference to veuch other, I have provided a gage for the sole which is adapted to maintain it in one position while the slze number is being imprinted thereon,` vand in another position' therewith two side guides 76 and 77 against which the sides of the sole rest during the printing operation. These side guides 76, 77 are adjustably sustained by the platen so that they can be moved toward and from the center thereof to accommodate soles of diiferent widths. One convenient lway of thus adjustably mounting them is that herein shownwherein each guide has extending therefrom two guiding pins 78 which slide through apertures formed in wings 79 on the platen. For adjusting the guides I provide the screw 80 which extends through an aperture in the platen and vis provided with screw threads 81 that have 'screwf threaded engagement with the platen and with other screw-threads 82 that'have screw-:5

threaded engagement with the guide The guide 77 is connected'to the end of the screw 81, said screw .having a swivel connection with the guide. The screw-threadsi82 and 81; are both right hand screw threads,`

but the screw-thread 82 Vhas double Vthe vpitch that the screw-thread 81- has. The screw 8O is provided with the knurled head 83 by which it may be turned. From the abovey it will be seen that when the screw is turned' in one direction said screw will -be carried through the platen. 62 thereby moving the f guide 77 away `from the platen but at the same time the guide 76 willvbe screwed back on the coarse screw threads 82 so that it will move awayl from the platen at the same speed that the guide 77 does.v This construe tion takes the place of ordinary right and left hand screws for adjustin the guides 77 and 76 simultaneously, an provides a construction which is not only easier to makebut which is much less likely to get out of order and which requires much less accurate alinement than a right and left hand screw does.

In the operation of the device the guides 76, 77 will be roperly adjusted to accomg modate the wi th of the sole and the sole will be placed on the platen with vthe end of the heel against the surface 71, and the side of the sole against the guides 77, as shown in dotted lines Fig. 6. The machine will then be started and the size numbers will be imprinted on the sole. The sole is then shifted into the dot and dash position Fig. 6 to bring the heel against the surface 72 and at the next descent of the printing head the case number will be printed on the sole. Since the two surfaces 71 and 72 are out of alinement with each other it will be seen that the case number will be printed in a different position from the size number and the two numbers will appear on the sole, one above the other, as seen in Fig. 8.

Having fully described my invention, what I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent is:-

1. In a machine for marking leather, the combination with a bed or platen, of a printing head having a plurality of type-disks. each having a burner opening, and a burner pipe having ports communicating with the burner openings. y

2. In a machine for marking leather, the combination with a bed or platen, of a printing `head having a plurality of adjustable type-disks, each having radialburner openings, a burner pipe on which said disks are rotatably mounted and which is provided .with ports to ydeliver gas to the burneropenings.

A3. In a machine for marking leather, the combination with a bed or platen, of a printing head havinga plurality of adjustable type-disks, each having radial burner openings, a burner pipe on which said disks are rotatably mounted and which is provided with ports on its under side to deliver gas to those burner openings in the Iowerhalf of each type-disk.

4. In a machine of the class described,4 the combination with a shaft, of two disks rotatably mounted thereon, an operating handle interposed between the disks and capable of both an oscillatory and a radial movement and having provision to move one of said disks in both directions as it oscillates, the other disk having notches in itsperiphery, and a tooth carried by said handle and adapted to engage the notches successively as the handle scillates thereby to advance said disk step by step.

5. In a machine of the class described, the combination with a half-size marker having a half-size printing character thereon, of an adjacent type wheel, two setting disks, one connected to the marker and the other to said type wheel, an operating handle having engagement with the setting disk for the half-size marker by which said disk may be incase? moved to bring the half-size printing character into printing position and retract it therefrom, and means carried by said handle to engage the other setting disk and move the latter in one direction only.

6. In a machine of the class described, the combination with a half-size marker and an adjacent type wheel, of two setting disks, one connected with the half-size marker and the other with the type wheel, a shaft on which said setting disks, arey mounted, an actuator interposed between said disks and having a forked end engaging said shaft, means connecting said actuator with one of said disks to move it in both directions, and means connecting said actuator with the other disk to cause it to move in one direction only.

7. In a machine of the class described, the combination with a shaft, of two disks rotatably mounted thereon, an operating handle having a forked portion interposed between said disks and embracing said shaft, each disk having notches in its periphery, a square-faced tooth secured to said handle and engaging the notches of one of said disks, ,and a beveled tooth connected to the handle and engaging the notches of the other disk.

8. In a machine for marking soles of shoes, the combination with a printing head having adjustable type, of a bed or platen to support the shoe, a screw having a screwthreaded portion of a fine pitch working through a fixed mit, a gage for the edge of the shoe sustained by the end of the Screw` said screw having another screw-threaded portion of a coarse pitch, a second gage having screw-threaded engagement with the coarse screw threads.

'9. In a machine for marking the soles of shoes, the combination with a platen, of a printing head having two sets of type carrying members situated so'that the sole to' be vprinted occupies different positions when being printed on by either of said sets, and

-a gage. to positionv the shoe sole on the platen, said gage having two gaging surfaces, one adapted to position a sole when one set of type carrying members isprinting characters thereon and the other adapted to properly position the sole when the other set of type carrying members is print- [a shaft on which said setting disks are mounted, an actuator interposed between said disks and hving a forked end engagname to this speciication, in -the presence ing said hshaft, neansdconrcting said act-uof two subscribing Witnesses. ator Wit one o sai is s to move it in both directions, and means Connecting` said GEORGE H' LANG' 5 actuator with the other disk to cause it to Witnesses:

move in one direction only. BERTHA F. HEUSER,

In testimony whereof, I have signed my THOMAS J. DRUMMOND. 

